Welcome! Ludwig Winery specializes in northern European varietals. I offer vineyard designated Riesling and a very rare Pinot Noir/Dornfelder blend - think of it as an Austrian or German styled Pinot Noir. All selections are dry or off dry and made in a food friendly style. I make only vineyard designated Riesling because like no other grape varietal, Riesling responds to where it’s grown and any variation in soil or weather will cause a proportional change in the subsequent wine. Blending would only mute the expression of terrior.

Monterey, because of its very cool, coastal climate has always been known for producing exemplar and classic Rieslings; in fact we sell most of our Riesling in Germany and Switzerland, places that know Riesling. I’ve been able acquire small quantities of grapes from what I consider some of the best vineyards in the region. I work with the vineyard owners to fine tune just a few acres of their vineyard for our very limited release wines.

Dornfelder is scarce so I had to plant my own vines. Consequentially the project has been quite a few years in the making. I am very pleased with what I see in barrel - who knew cold climate Dornfelder was so richly colored! (Dornfelder is sometimes known as German Pinot so we’ve planted it in the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation next to some very highly regarded Pinot Noir.)